DotAsia–Giving Back to the Community

DotAsia – Giving Back to the Community

One of the corner stones to DotAsia’s mission is to give back, through contributions, to the .Asia community.

The mission of the DotAsia Organisation is:

• To sponsor, establish and operate a regional Internet namespace with global recognition and regional significance, dedicated to the needs of the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet community;
• To contribute proceeds in socio-technological advancement initiatives relevant to the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific Internet community and;
• To operate a viable not-for-profit initiative that is a technically advanced, world-class TLD registry for the Pan-Asia and Asia Pacific community.

Below are the basics for how funds are allocated for distribution to the .Asia community.

1). What percentage is set aside for the community and from what avenues are incomes derived?

• About 1/3 of net extraordinary incomes are set aside for community contributions. “Extraordinary incomes” include income from auctions, special fees and capital gains, etc.
• 10% or more of gross regular income is set aside regardless of the surplus situation. “Regular income” comes from domain registrations.
• Surplus proceeds in general will be used towards community contributions. Where appropriate, DotAsia will also incorporate elements of community contributions into our marketing efforts which themselves are focused on awareness and outreach.

2). For the funds reserved for the community, what does the funding go for – technology only (such as Relief.asia), building schools or other items?

The DotAsia Organisation is established with a mandate to contribute its proceeds into socio-technological advancement initiatives for the Internet community in Asia. Leveraging the network and expertise at DotAsia, community contributions will be directed towards the following 3 main areas:

• Digital inclusion projects focused on poverty relief in the form of bridging the digital divide and helping the poor and digital "have-nots" gain access to information technology.
• Initiatives advancing education in Asia, especially through information technology and the Internet, as well as scholarships and other open knowledge contributions (such as open license educational materials).
• Research and development efforts beneficial to the community, including projects such as socio-technical research, open source development, disaster relief and rebuild efforts especially on information infrastructure support.

3). How does DotAsia determine who receives what funds? For example, the DotAsia footprint encompasses many countries. Is a certain percentage designated for efforts in each country, or are the funds designated on a case-by-case basis, such as the Myanmar and Sichuan incidents?

DotAsia's approach is to explore and work with other existing initiatives and leverage our social and technology network to enhance and further facilitate community projects. Because we were still in our launch phase, most of the contributions to date have been relatively ad hoc and on a case-by-case basis. We have a Proceeds Steering Committee which oversees the allocation of funds. As we progress, we are beginning to develop longer term strategic contributions aligned with our mission, including the 3 main focus areas as described above. In terms of the distribution among countries in Asia, we will work closely with our Member ccTLDs and other local organisations to leverage their knowledge of the local situation.